What IS Photojournalism?

From an email I sent to my clients recently but worth posting for others to see:


So what IS Photojournalism? It seems to be the style that all my potential clients tell me that they want. But what is it?

Well, in theory, it is a way of documenting the event with no interaction from the Photographer. He/she simply records what happens and tells a story with the pictures. “Ah,” you say, “That’s what I want!” Better think again.

If the photographer has no interaction with you or your guests, he essentially is a “fly on the wall.” You should never see him since he’s not supposed to be there interacting, just recording. Sometimes there’s nothing interesting happening to record. What then? Should the photographer just take shots of people sitting around doing nothing special?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the best Wedding Photojournalists today really do not perform true photojournalism. What?! It’s true. Many of the best “photojournalistic” shots are really posed shots or manipulated shots. They do look a lot like un-posed shots, but really, the photographer often places his subjects in situations in which they must react and then he records it. That’s not true documentation. That’s true manipulation! (By the way, you can’t do that in Forensic Photography…) :)

For example, to get a great “mirror” shot of a bride getting ready requires the photographer to be fairly close to the bride and the mirror. And, the bride has to be at a certain angle from the mirror and the mirror has to be tilted at just the right angle as well. Can a photographer get that shot photojournalistically? Sometimes. But not always. Most often he’ll say, “Would you mind holding the mirror just a little to your right and angle it down just a bit?” Then he takes the shot. THAT”S NOT PHOTOJOURNALISM. That’s POSING. But, when you look at the photo, it sure looks like it was shot photojournalistically.

Wedding Photojournalism today really is a combination of reactionary shots as well as posed or staged shots. It’s just a way to get a more natural looking photo documentation of the day, but sometimes it needs a little help.

You’ll find that I often do not physically pose my subjects when I photograph them. I’ll tell them what to do, but I won’t move them into position. My engagement sessions are usually like this. The clients usually stand around and wonder, “When is he going to move us into the correct position?” Well, if I did that, then I may not get the shots I really want. At times, I will tell them what to do and then I will just stand there and not shoot. Why? Because I’m looking for an expression from them or for them to move into a position that I think will look interesting and natural. Wait long enough and people will start repositioning themselves. :)

I just shot an engagement session several weeks ago (ok… you know who you are) and I did just that. Sure, we took a lot of posed shots (most of them in fact), but we also got a few that does look un-posed. For instance, I had them climb on a rope ladder in a children’s playground. As they were struggling to do this, I shot one image. They looked totally natural because they were not concentrating on me, but rather on trying not to kill themselves on that ladder and still look good to each other. It’s a great shot. Is it Photojournalistic or is it posed or is it staged? Get the point?

I hope you are beginning to see that to get the best photos, sometimes we need to manipulate things a bit. The true goal is to get natural looking photos regardless of whether it’s truly Photojournalistic or not. In the end, the final wedding album will benefit from a little help from the photographer.